Sister Joan Chittister famously said, "We are each called to go through life reclaiming the planet an inch at a time until the Garden of Eden grows green again." Reflecting on that journey -- a blog at a time -- is the focus of this site.

Saturday, December 31, 2011

“Being Gay is a Gift from God:” The Gift That Keeps On Giving

In January 2009 Ed Bacon – my boss and the rector at All Saints Church here in Pasadena – was a guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show and spoke the words “being gay is a gift from God.”

Those seven words – offered in response to a call-in viewer from Atlanta -- set off a ripple of reactions that lit up Oprah’s switchboard, almost crashed our parish email server and continues to bring people toward us here at All Saints. The segment recently aired again (on OWN – the Oprah Winfrey Network) and so nearly three years later we are finding that “being gay is a gift from God” is the gift that keeps on giving.

And the gift that it is giving (as the 2009 segment makes the rounds again via YouTube and on Facebook) is a new wave of email feedback in response to a faith leader standing up and speaking out against religious based bigotry aimed at LGBT people.

Here are two examples – which I found literally side-by-side in our inbox the other morning:

Subject: ed bacon

shame on you ed bacon on what you said on oprah, how could you (a socalled man of the cloth) say such blasphumus things against our lord and his good book, shame, shame, shame, i pray GOD will forgive you, you know not what you say......shame

And then there was this one:

Subject: A Message of Thanks to Ed Bacon

I caught your conversations with Oprah and the following media prattle regarding your statement that being gay is a gift from God. I am not sure that I believe in God, but I would have to believe that if there is a God, and he made all people in his own image that I would have to be, even as a gay man, good. I know that I struggle through every day the same as everyone else, trying to understand why I am here. What is my purpose? This is not a new question for anyone, regardless of who they are inclined to share their sexuality with. I know deep in my heart that I am good. If God is responsible for that, then I am grateful.

You made the comment that some of the backlash from that statement came from those who called themselves Christians. You said some of those comments were the most vitriolic you had ever heard. Please understand that there are those of us who have never heard anything but that from Christian organizations and Christians for our whole lives.

There is no war on God. There is no war on the Christian church. There are just a lot of very hurt people out there, like me, struggling to understand why we are here, and trying to find our inner goodness, and worthiness.

I hope your comments go a long way to help promote healing and understanding. I hope that your church will be successful in changing the perception that God is vengeful and will smite those who don't fit into this culture's general ways of thinking. I hope your church is successful in promoting the idea that God's love is unconditional and that we have all been created as he intended us to be, and that we are all good in his eyes.

It will be awhile (if ever) before I am able to make a leap of faith to believing that there is a God. I do hope that those who do will try to err on the side of love and tolerance and not be afraid of what God will think of them if they extend love to all people regardless of their sexual orientation and whatever other differences we find hard to tolerate in this culture.

Keep up the good work!

We will. And whenever we wonder whether that work is making a difference, I hope that these words of thanks to an Episcopal priest from a man who isn’t sure that he believes in God will be another gift that keeps on giving.

The gift of hope that we can – by stepping out and speaking out against LGBT discrimination – heal some of the “very hurt people out there” who have been wounded by the wolf of homophobia hiding in the sheep’s clothing of the Christian Gospel.

And the gift of reminding us what a privilege it is to be a community of love, justice and compassion standing ready to catch those who become able to make the leap of faith and believe in the God who has always believed in them -- in spite of the Church that has rejected them.

Because the shame is not proclaiming that being gay is a gift from God. The shame is not proclaiming it loud enough.

1 comment:

It is one of the most concise and perfect statements about our truth. I put the video up on my blog in 2009, and one of my return visitors obviously has it earmarked, so my statcounter often shows, "gift-from-god". Makes me smile to see that!

Welcome to my blog ...

... where I try to be really clear about what I'm clear about. For example:

Religious persecution is when you're prevented from exercising your beliefs, not when you're prevented from IMPOSING your beliefs.

========

Until we end the blatant and indefensible discrimination of DOMA we are not living up to the pledge we make to be a nation of liberty and justice for all, we are not providing the equal protection guaranteed by the 14th Amendment to same-sex couples and we are failing to defend the self-evident truth that our forbearers fought to protect: that ALL people are created equal.

============ Using "biblical standards" to condemn those who understand that sexual orientation is morally neutral makes as much sense as using "biblical standards" to condemn astronomers who understand that the earth revolves around the sun. The Bible may have said it but that doesn't always settle it. ============ It's liberty and justice for all -- not some. It's respect the dignity of every human being -- not just straight ones. Got it? Great. Let's do it.

====== In order to keep moving forward toward liberty and justice for all we can't just be right about what the 1st Amendment protects. We have to be smart about how we respond to those who skipped the 9th Commandment and think lying is a Traditional Family Value. ======= Jesus said "Love your neighbor." Not "Love your neighbor unless your neighbor is gay."

Basic Bio

A cradle Episcopalian second generation Dodger fan ENFJ native of Los Angeles I was ordained in 1996 and currently serve as a Senior Associate at All Saints Church, Pasadena.
My family consists of my wife Lori, 2 dogs, (Luna and Betsy), 3 cats (Maui, Cherokee and Harold) and our four nearly-grown kids: Jim, Brian, Grace and Emily.
My life in the church has included everything from Junior Altar Guild with my Aunt Gretchen to my “obligatory young adult lapsed phase” to a tour of duty on the St. Paul’s, Ventura vestry where I also worked as parish secretary to a life-heart-soul changing experience as part of the Cursillo community to serving on my parish ECW Board to seminary at the School of Theology in Claremont to associate/day school chaplain positions at St. Mark’s, Altadena and St. Peter’s, San Pedro to Executive Director of Claiming the Blessing to my current parish position at All Saints Church. It’s been a long and winding road and the journey continues: an inch at a time.

Bottom Line:

A Comment On Comments

Strongly held perspectives are appreciated. Ad hominem attacks will be deleted. When in doubt, revisit page 305 of the BCP and if what you're typing doesn't meet the "respect the dignity" clause of the Baptismal Covenant then save us both some time and energy and don't hit "send."

DISCLAIMER

This blog is the personal weblog of one Susan Lynn Russell. The opinions expressed herein are hers and hers alone. The postions taken on matters theological or political (or anything else, for that matter) are in no way to be construed as the official positions of any other person, institution, group or organization.

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“Faith in action is called politics. Spirituality without action is fruitless and social action without spirituality is heartless. We are boldly political without being partisan. Having a partisan-free place to stand liberates the religious patriot to see clearly, speak courageously, and act daringly.” -- Ed Bacon

“Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"It's time for "tolerant" religious people to acknowledge the straight line between the official anti-gay theologies of their denominations and the deaths of these young people. Nothing short of changing our theology of human sexuality will save these young and precious lives." -- The Rt Rev Gene Robinson

"How can you initiate someone into the Body of Christ and then treat them like they’re half-assed baptized?" - The Rt Rev Barbara Harris

“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” ~ Elie Wiesel, 1986 Nobel Peace Prize

"Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant with the weak and wrong. Sometime in your life, you will have been all of these." — Siddhārtha Gautama

"I'm so glad Mary didn't wait for the formulation of a Doctrine of the Incarnation before she said 'Yes' to God." -- Ed Bacon

"The great Easter truth is not that we will be born again someday but that we are to be alive here and now by the power of the resurrection." -- Philips Brooks (paraphrase)

"History belongs to the intercessors, who believe the future into being.” -- Walter Wink

“Patience, a quality of holiness may be sloth in the soul when associated with the lack of righteous indignation.” -- Abraham Heschel

"Don't tell me what you believe. Tell me what difference it makes that you believe!" -- Verna Dozier

“We establish no religion in this country, we command no worship, we mandate no belief. Nor will we ever. Church and state are, and must remain, separate. All are free to believe or not believe, all are free to practice a faith or not, and those who believe are free and should be free, to speak of and act on their belief. At the same time as our constitution prohibits state religion, establishment of it protects the free exercise of all religions. And walking this fine line requires government to be strictly neutral.” -- Ronald Reagan

Let's be clear. The fact that the State authorizes a marriage in no way compels any Church to perform or recognize it. Marriage equality merely guarantees equality under the law to all citizens; it does not compel churches to do anything.-- Katherine Ragsdale